The Nativity of Christ
Russian Icons of the Late 15th to 17th Century in the Hermitage Collection

The exhibition dedicated to one of the twelve prinicipal holidays of the Orthodox Church features 35 icons from the State Hermitage collection. Apart from the 24 icons on the subject of the Nativity on display are icons representing Annunciation, another Christian holiday.The exhibited icons are notable for the stylistic distinctions being the works of the Moscow, Novgorod, Yaroslavl Schools, the studio of Stroganovs in Solvychegodsk and the North Russian School. All the icons, except for the tablet icon dating from the 17th century, are of quite a large size. The number of icons dedicated to the birth of Christ or Saviour, as Christ is more often called in Russia, is started by the icon dating from the 16th century Christ in Glory that is one of the most beautiful in the Hermitage collection. The earliest of the exhibited icons is dated by the late 15th or 16th century. The rest are dating from the 16th or 17th century. More than a half of the icons is displayed for the first time and most part of these were cleaned of repainting and of dark varnishes in the laboratory of restoration and tempera painting of the State Hermitage Museum specially for this exhibition.

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue (the author is the researcher of the Department of Russian Culture Anna S.Kostsova).

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First visitors

At the exhibition